My favorite way to celebrate a new season is by hanging a new wreath on our front door! Just this one little touch of decor always inspires me to freshen up our house with a good cleaning and organizing so the few seasonal accessories I put out are highlighted and make our home feel extra special.

I partnered with Hobby Lobby to show you how to make this simple and delicate wreath that reminds me Springtime in Ohio, where tree branches are still leggy as the green earth around them are preparing for blooming bulbs and the arrival of new life. Hobby Lobby has a nice selection of Springtime decor, but making my own decorations gives me more creative freedom, plus— making things is obviously more fun!

STEP ONE: Bend each of the wired branches into semi-circles, then wire them together to create a hoop shape.

STEP TWO: Use additional wire to secure the flyaway pieces to to hoop, allowing some pieces to still pull away giving the wreath base a wispy look.

STEP THREE: Attach the fabric butterflies to the base. The more the merrier!

These butterflies are made of very thin printed fabric that feels a bit like paper, but won’t crease like paper. I found them in one of the floral supply aisles at Hobby Lobby. The butterflies have attached wires which make it very easy to attach to the branches. Then simply shape their wings to look like real butterflies who’ve just landed on your wreath.

I love the delicate look of this butterfly wreath, and think it looks particularly lovely hanging in front of this windowed door with warm light streaming in around it. This is the door inside our sunroom — a spot I chose because I can see the wreath from our living room.

After watching me make this wreath, my girls have butterfly fever, which have made the wheels in my head begin to turn once again! I’m thinking a butterfly themed birthday party would be a beautiful kiddo birthday party theme! I’ll definitely be keeping this wreath handy for when that day comes.

What’s your favorite way to decorate for Spring’s arrival? Don’t forget to check out Hobby Lobby for wreath making supplies and other home decor. Bring this coupon with you for 40% off any regular priced item. Happy Spring crafting!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Hobby Lobby. The opinions and text are all mine.

Lately I’ve been really thinking about the style direction of our home. (Okay, let’s be real, I’m overanalyzing again!) I like quite a mix of styles, and while I want to say our home is eclectic, I really think the style I’m going for is much more specific than that. After pouring over the design book Modern Rustic, I finally feel less weird about my affinity for primitive furniture alongside shiny and bright mid century duds. Rustic modern? Makes so much sense! So I’ve finally settled on a style descriptor for our home: Polished rustic modern with plenty of mid century funk. Does that make sense? I’m sure I’ll find another description I like better next week. And then another the week after that…

So going along with my affinity for rustic elements in my home, I have this cabinet that I had painted a few years ago, which I now felt should be stripped down to its natural wood state. I figured this would take a couple hours of sanding, and then a bit of waxing. Easy peasy, right? NOPE. Here’s how it all went down.

When I first purchased this cabinet at an antique expo years ago, I loved it for its teal green stain, but it didn’t feel right in my home. So I painted it gray, scraping away some of the gray paint to reveal bits of the green. But now I was ready to strip down both the gray and the green to reveal the beautiful wood underneath. The only problem was, the wood turned out to be, well, not so beautiful.

After a few hours of sanding with 60 grit sandpaper and my palm sander, I had removed all of the paint and previous green stain, but could not get the greenish tint off of the two boards on either side of the door. So the next day I took a belt sander to it with a 50 grit belt. Just got done sanding. Dust everywhere. Jan everywhere. And still greenish wood. I then realized that the wood species is poplar, and as is often the case with poplar, the wood itself had a greenish tint, with a warmer streak to it on the edges. The middle board and side boards were a lovely warm shade of wood that I had been hoping for the entire cabinet. But not the most visible boards on the front. Ugh!

I would never be able to get rid of the green, and if I kept going at that rate, my cabinet would’ve turned into a pile of dust. So I decided— lime it! Then I’d still be able to see the grain of the wood, but not necessarily the color tones I wasn’t loving.

I had heard great things about Briwax Liming Wax, so I ordered some on Amazon (I couldn’t find it at Lowes or Home Depot), and was excited to give it a go.

I recommend really making sure your sanded surface is evenly smooth. What I mean by that is if you had been sanding with low grit paper like I was, you’ll want to incrementally get to a high grit paper (120 grit should be high enough) so that your wood will equally absorb the wax, without splotches occurring where the wood is rougher and therefore thirstier. I had a little bit of trouble with mine absorbing evenly, and regret not taking more care when sanding. When I was sanding I didn’t think it mattered since I was going for a rustic appearance. Oops!

I used a metal spatula to apply some of the wax, and then used a fine cloth to rub it into the wood using circular motions. After covering the entire piece, I took another clean cloth and wiped with the grain to remove any excess. I probably should’ve finished with a clear wax, but I couldn’t find mine, so I’ll do that after I finish unpacking my craft supplies.

So the cabinet refinishing didn’t go exactly according to plan, but I’m just going to embrace it. I was hoping to have a warmer appearance to the wood, but it feels a bit gray because of the greenish tones of the wood beneath the liming wax… and I feel like that’s just so ironic considering the cabinet was already gray before I even began this process! Ha! Still, I like it better with being able to see the wood through the wax, which gives it an extra element of texture that the painted wood just didn’t offer.

Have you all ever used liming wax before? I’ve seen such varying results across the web! I’d love to see your limed projects if you care to share.

You guys! It’s the eleventh hour. Advent season is almost over, and the kids won’t stop asking me to do crafts and eat snacks. Literally. All day. Every day. I thought this week we’d whip together an easy craft that would harness our festive energy (errr… make that their festive energy!), satisfy their desire for cheese and crafts, with the added benefit of making the holiday kids table the happening place to be.

Lucy and I created these easy and fun ornament placemats with a bit of tablecloth vinyl and some acrylic paint we had on hand. It was so fast and easy, just like these fun cheddar and colby cheese shapes from Horizon Organic! This kids table was a breeze to create, but the make-your-own-cracker-sandwich spread was the real star of the show. Oh, and did I mention there was chocolate milk? Thanks, Horizon for partnering with me on this fun kid-centric activity! For two seconds the girls quit asking me for gingerbread cookies.

I hope this little craft can inspire you to have a little fun crafting with your kiddos before the big day.

PAINTED ORNAMENT PLACEMATS

STEP ONE: Trace a round plate or circular platter, adding a square object at one end for the top of your ornament. Be careful using a permanent marker, though I was able to remove some marks that I accidentally got onto my ceramic plate.

STEP TWO: Cut out the shape you traced in step one.

STEP THREE: Tape off Stripes on the vinyl fabric using painter’s tape. This step was also handy to keep the placement securely in place on my paper-covered table. It made it easier for Lucy to paint.

I gave Lucy four paint colors to choose from and told her she could make each stripe one color, or have fun blending the colors together and painting it as crazy as she wanted. She decided to just do one color per stripe, as you can see!

STEP FOUR: Remove the painter’s tape and allow the acrylic paint to dry. It only take a few minutes if the paint isn’t on there too thick.

I put a kraft paper table runner on the girls little table, and considered giving them markers to doodle on it. I may feel braver on Christmas day. But this time around I just cut out wax paper circles to display the fun cheese shapes I pulled right out of the Horizon Organic bags. No need to take the time to use cookie cutters and then figuring out what to do with the scrap pieces. I also placed bowls of organic nitrate-free pepperoni and crackers on the table so the girls could make their own cheese sandwich crackers. It’s a favorite snack of theirs, and paired with chocolate milk, becomes a really special treat!

I have a feeling the girls won’t mind being sent to the kids table when things get real crazy right before our Christmas feast. We’re excited to bake a big ol’ turkey in our brand new oven, but that doesn’t mean I’m a little nervous about pulling everything off! And in the midst of the crazy, I’m ready to keep the children’s bellies happy with a little snack to hold them over.

What are your go-to snacks to keep your kiddos happy before dinnertime? I’m telling you, cheese is a life-saver at our house! :)

Follow Horizon Organic on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook for more fun snacking ideas! This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Horizon. The opinions and text are all mine.